Sky One is to bring back Saturday night favourite Gladiators hot on the heels of a successful relaunch in the US.

The digital satellite channel will take over Gladiators broadcasting duties from ITV, where the series was a hit for most of the 1990s.

Elisabeth Murdoch's independent production company Shine will produce the show, which will be given a "21st century makeover" and will include "much more exciting and dangerous" contests.

Gladiators is due to return to its traditional Saturday prime time slot later this year.

According to today's Sun, ex-footballer Ian Wright is being lined up to host the new UK version.

Gladiators: new logo for the show's Sky return
The original ITV show's Scottish referee and voiceover man, John Anderson, whose catchphrase was "Gladiators, ready!", is also in talks to return, the paper added.

Shine is in the final stages of buying US production company Reveille, which makes the revamped US version, American Gladiators, for NBC.

Members of the public will once again be challenged to battle a new team of 12 gladiators, who are currently being recruited. Auditions for contestants will begin next month.

Gladiators became a mainstay of the ITV Saturday night schedule when it launched in 1992, regularly pulling in 12 million viewers.

Hosted by Ulrika Jonsson and John Fashanu from Birmingham's NIA, the show's team of gladiators including Wolf and Hunter became household names.

The show went on to spawn a string of money-spinning live shows and merchandising.

However, the show was eventually axed in 2000 after a revamp, which saw former England rugby star Jeremy Guscott replace Fashanu, failed to halt sliding ratings.

The success of the new US version prompted the Sky One controller, Richard Woolfe, to bring back the format.

The US version was originally intended to fill gaps in the schedule left by the ongoing writers' strike, but has been so successful that a second series has been commisisoned.

Woolfe told the Sun: "Just like the revival of Take That and the Spice Girls, the return of this David-and-Goliath contest will be unmissable."

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